I think monitor arms are a great investment to building your own aesthetic and ergonomic
computer setup.
Fancier monitors arm that use a spring counterbalance give you more freedom of motion to quickly
adjust and move your monitor however you see fit.
But the challenge has always been finding one that is strong enough for my large ultrawide
monitor while also not breaking the bank.
Hi I’m David and this is the Amazon Basic Monitor Arm
So let quickly take a look at my setup.
I’m using a Dell 34” ultrawide monitor that weighs 18.6 pounds (not including the
stand) attached to the Amazon Basic Single Monitor arm (supports monitors from 5 – 25
lbs).
With this configuration I have the flexibility to lift or lower the monitor, pull it closer
or push it back, pivot left and right, tilt the angle up or down, and even rotate the
screen.
For the most part I can adjust the monitor wherever I need it on the fly.
But there are some limitations that are important to be aware of that actually effect all adjustable
monitor arms as far as I’m aware.
This Amazon Basic monitor arm uses a triple hinge design for the forward back left right
movements which as you can see isn’t exactly trivial for simple motions.
In the simple task of moving the monitor from the left to the right side actually requires
a lot of coordination and friction to overcome as you dance the multiple hinges to eventually
get the monitor in the right spot.
The same thing applies when you’re trying to move the monitor closer or further away.
And complicating things even further if you put your desk up against a wall like I usually
do, you become even more limited on positioning, and you’ll need to take greater care not
to hit the wall with the arm.
Height adjustment on the fly is another key feature with the Amazon Basic arm mount.
Using a spring counterbalance to hold up the monitor, it can be moved up and down with
moderate force from a single hand.
At its highest setting the top of my monitor is about 61cm from the desk (or 44cm for the
center of the vesa mount) and it can go pretty much as low as you would need it to.
But something to note is that since the height is adjusted by a hinging action, the monitor
doesn’t just stay in the same place.
For example here the monitors moves left and right which is a little annoying from an aesthetic
point of view to keep everything centered and can potentially bump into anything you
may have nearby.
So those are the basic of the operation for the monitor arm.
Next let’s look at the build quality.
And that where this arm really shines.
All the pieces feel solidly built and even with my very large 34 inch monitor I feel
like this arm is completely up for the task.
The assembly is super straight forward, first by clamping the base to the desk.
Dropping the next arm component on the base.
Attaching the top arm to the VESA holes on your monitor with either the included Philips
screws or thumb screws.
And then finally dropping that on top of the rest of the arm and the assembly is pretty
much done.
There are also a variety of adjustments you can make to make to tune the arm for your
needs like raising the ring on the base for a taller setup, tightening the resistance
on the bottom hinges, increasing the tension on the spring counterbalance for the weight
of your monitor, adjusting the resistance on the tilt mechanism, and you can even lock
the monitor from rotating.
So that the Amazon Basic Single Monitor Arm Mount.
A simple but well built monitor arm using a spring counterbalance to provide the flexibility
to move their monitor around from time to time, and works great with my large 34 inch
ultrawide monitor.
But if you don’t need that kind of flexibility, maybe check out a static arm mount instead
that also work and is a cheaper way to get the same aesthetic and ergonomic benefits.
But those are just my thoughts.
Hope you guys enjoyed this one.
You know what to do.
And I’ll see you in the next video.